Phantom Phan Phiction
by Scarlett Michealson
Summary: It's been years since the famous Christine Daae ran away from the opera house with Raoul, and then passed away. Now, Scarlett, their daughter decides to follow her mother, and she comes to the Opera Populair. As the months go by, Erik discovers a voice, familiar to his love, and he begins to help Scarlett. Unknown to the both of them is the secret Raoul has held for a long time...


Phantom Phan Phiction

By Scarlett Michealson

I sat in the carriage, looking out the window. Father sat across from me, his nose in a paper. On the front was a picture of the Opera house. Everyone was getting excited again. Since the fire, some years ago, it had been fixed and a new company had moved in. Now they planned to start up the Operas, concerts and recitals again, which was why they were on the front of the post.

"Will you come to watch if I make it in?" I asked Father. He laughed.

"You know I don't like the Opera house. I probably won't, but I'm sure I'll hear all about it in the post the next morning, dear." He smiled at me. I hated that.

Something had happened when he was younger and he wouldn't talk about it, except to say it happened at the Opera house, and he would never go back. I sighed and looked back out the window. I watched as the other carriages ran by in the light rain. It always rained in Paris. On the rare occasion that it didn't, school let out, and all the kids spent the day at the parks, having picnics and playing games like cricket and cards.

As we continued down the street we passed by the Eiffel Tower. I had been inside that tower so many times with school, I couldn't count anymore. I smiled as the mist hit my face.

"Scarlett, don't hold your head out the window like that. That's not how girls your age act." Father scolded me. I frowned and looked down at the cobble stone as it passed underneath of us.

Since mother had died, father didn't laugh or smile much. And on the rare occasion that he did, it was normally my birthday or some other holiday. He worked from home, but only sometimes, he had come from a wealthy family, so we had plenty of money and he was a little famous, but he didn't boast of it anymore. He had changed a lot since she had passed away.

Suddenly the sun came out from the clouds, and as I looked up to see it, my eyes fell on the Opera house as it came into view. I had finished school, and I was determined to follow my mother. She had loved music, and now I did too. When our carriage stopped in front of the big doors, I looked at father who put his paper in his lap and sighed as he stared at the massive, stone building that seemed to loom over the street and the people walking passed it.

"When you audition, do not tell anyone who I am, or who your mother is, and do not speak of us. Do not talk to anyone that is not in your class or is not your instructor, ok?" He said, grasping my hand. I nodded. He had been like this ever since I had first wanted to audition at the Opera Populair.

"Good luck." He smiled at me, and kissed my hand, before I stepped out, my suit case in hand. Everyone seemed to stare at me as I made my way up to the big, foreboding, doors. The doormen opened them for me, and allowed me to step inside.

"Madam." The one greeted me. My eyes grew wide as I looked up into the big room ahead of me, the Hall. Many famous opera singers had stood on that stage, and I was taken back for a moment.

"Ladies! This way!" Shouted a stern women's voice. I snapped my head to the left. A women, dressed in black, with dark hair, and harsh lip-stick was staring at me. I realized that I was standing in the midst of a group of girls, all here to audition, like myself. We followed her into a hall, and through some doors. She lead us up a dark staircase and stopped. We all stared at her, wide-eyed and new. Just then a group of older girls stepped out from the doors behind her, and stared at us.

"Welcome, ladies, to the Opera Populair! Congratulations! You have all made it! No auditions! The only auditions, will be to see where you will best fit, among the dancers," she waved her hand to the right, and all the girls behind her slightly bowed. "among the singers," She waved her hand to the left, and all those girls slightly bowed, "or to the orchestra." She said, and a group at the back of the long hallway bowed. She smiled at all of us.

"Tonight you get to pick where you sleep, but tomorrow, when it is determined who your group will be you may have to move!" She shouted. We nodded, and began shuffling around, trying to find where we would sleep. I found a girl my age, one of the singers, who had an extra bed in her room.

"My name is Meg, after my mother." She smiled.

"And I am Scarlett." I replied. She helped me unpack my things and then we played a game to better get to know each other until dinner.

She was a slightly shorter girl, with strawberry-blonde hair, and green eyes. Her skin was white, but soft, and her smile was warm and gentle. She wore a light blue dress with white lace.

"Dinner!" The head mistress shouted. Meg jumped up right away, and then looked back at me.

"We have to go! Now! She is not patient." She told me, so I got up and followed her and all the other girls down the dark staircase, and then into the dining hall.

As we sat down, the boys came over and introduced themselves, and each boy held a rose, to give to one of us. Mine was a tall, dark-haired boy who had kind, blue eyes, and a sheepish grin. He handed me the rose, and told me his name was William, and that he wished me luck tomorrow, as all the other boys were instructed to say to the girls. I smiled, and thanked him before I took my seat again, and he went back to his table.

All the other girls were giggling when I sat down. I looked around, and frowned.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"That's Will, he's like the handsomest boy here, and all the girls like him, so it's like really special that he gave you a rose. Everyone else is going to be jealous of you now." Meg told me. I nodded, and rolled my eyes.

After dinner we were allowed free time, so I decided to explore the Concert Hall. I found a door, that lead backstage, and quietly closed it behind me. The lights were already on, and I cautiously made my way onto the stage. Looking around, I felt my heart flutter. The Hall was much bigger than I had ever imagined, and everything looked so grand. The chairs were made of red velvet, and the stage was so bright. I walked up to the edge, and peered out, imagining an audience. Suddenly I felt really small, as I saw how big everything was around me, and how many eyes would be on me, in the next show. I held my breath as I looked up at the ceiling, and found myself staring at the famous chandelier. I took a step back, as I gasped. It was big, much bigger than I was just standing on the stage. It looked like it was composed entirely of glass and crystals. I marveled at how beautiful it was.

Just then I saw something out of the corner of my eye move, and when I looked, I saw only darkness and shadow up on the catwalk, but I could have sworn there had been a face...

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" I suddenly heard someone shout. I jumped, and turned around. Meg was standing by the door, and when I looked at her, she started to laugh.

"I thought you were the head mistress!" I cried, clasping my hands over my chest. She bent over, laughing.

"I was trying to act like it!" She said, striding over to me. She was very graceful when she walked.

"Are you a dancer?" I asked. She shook her head.

"I switched two years ago, when everyone realized I could sing. During my audition, I had wanted to dance, so I had sung bad, and made it in with all the dancers, but two years ago someone heard me singing back stage, and they switched me. I don't mind, but I really loved to dance." She explained, and she broke into dance, twirling around the stage, her arms up, and I realized she wore ballerina slippers. I smiled as she jumped around. She was brilliant.

"So you want to be a singer?" She asked me. I nodded.

"I can dance, and play the piano, but I love to sing most of all." I told her. She smiled, and twirled around again.

"Why?" She asked. I laughed.

"I don't know. When I was little I enjoyed always hearing my mother sing, and she had such an amazing voice, that I always sang with her, and she inspired me so much, that I continued to sing, and well, here I am. I just hope they think I'm good enough to be a singer." I replied. She smiled.

"Did she ever sing like in public?" Meg asked. I tried to twirl around, and she helped me.

"Like this." And she did it.

"Actually, yes, that was her career. She used to sing here." I replied. She stopped, mid-air, and landed with a loud thud. She looked back at me.

"When?" She asked, her eyes were wide.

"A long time ago, before the fire." I smiled, shrugging. She nodded, slowly and started dancing again.

"Bed girls!" We heard the head mistress yell, and we danced our way over to the door, laughing.

In the evening we both got ready for bed. While Meg was in the bathroom, I looked out the window, over the courtyard. As I squinted, I could see the building on the other side. The Opera house was like a big square. When I looked closer I frowned. I could see a white dot in one of the window panes on the other side, and when it vanished, I sat back on the bed.

"Everything all right?" She asked, taking out an earring as she walked out of the bathroom. I nodded.

"What's over there?" I asked, pointing out the window. She shrugged.

"Who knows." She whispered, but she made a point to end there and didn't talk about it further. I got up and got done in the bathroom before I walked over to my side and we said good night.

But as we lay there, in the darkness, I stared out the window, at the moon in the clear sky, among all the stars. I had a secret that not even Father knew. I couldn't sleep, and I hadn't slept since Mother had died some years ago.

For a long time I watched Meg sleep, her chest rise and fall, and when I couldn't take the clock bells as they struck the hour again and again it seemed, I finally stood up, and quietly tip-toed out of the room, carefully closing the door behind me.

I crept down the staircase and made sure I was alone, before I walked down the long, dark hallway, and onto backstage. The lights were off in the concert hall, so I felt my way around, until I found them, and turned them on, and hoping I hadn't woken anyone up, I sat down at the grand piano sitting on the stage. It had been several months since I had played. Father had had the grand piano sold because it reminded him too much of Mother.

I lifted the cover off the keys, and as I gently laid my fingers on the white, tusk, keys, I felt myself shiver. I closed my eyes, and after a moment, I pressed down, and then felt another press down, and pretty soon I was playing a tune Mother had used to play. It was the same four notes, first high, and then low, and then in a round, and then mixed. Then I started a song I had learned right before she had passed, and that we had used to sing together.

I played and played. It was something I had missed doing so much. I closed my eyes, and let the notes come. I had memorized some and I loved to just listen. Piano had always seemed so peaceful to me. In fact, it seemed so peaceful, that I forgot where I was.

When I had finished another song, I started to relax my fingers, and move them, so they wouldn't start to hurt. I could see my reflection in the black piano, and I smiled at myself, the lights of the stage behind me.

"You play beautifully." I heard a deep voice comment. I snapped my head up, as I jumped. I had expected it to be the head mistress when I realized the voice was low. I could see a figure, dressed in black, standing in the doorway on the other side, backstage. He was facing the side though, so I could only see half of him, the other half lay hidden, in the shadows. His hand, was against the door frame, and he was looking at me. I remembered what Father had said, but I also couldn't ignore him.

"Thank you." I whispered, smiling gently, and I started to play again, but he didn't leave, and when I had finished another song some time later, he was still there.

"Are you new here?" He asked. I looked back at him. And nodded.

"Yes. I just came yesterday afternoon." I replied. He chuckled.

"And you're already breaking the rules?" He asked. I shrugged.

"No one said I couldn't." I replied, shyly. He chuckled again.

"And why aren't you sleeping like everyone else?" He asked. I looked at the keys, and then back at him.

"I could ask you the same." I replied. He hesitated.

"I'm more awake at night." He mused. I nodded.

"I can't sleep." I replied. He raised his head a little, but didn't look straight at me. Half of his face remained in the shadows.

"You can't sleep? Or you won't?" He asked. I smiled to myself.

"I can't." I murmured. "I haven't since my mother died. Which was more than ten years ago." I continued. He raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry." He murmured, but when I looked back, I was staring at an empty, dark, doorway. I shivered.

For a while longer I played, and I even sang a little towards the end, but never loudly, for fear of waking someone. When at last I had had enough for one night, I turned the lights out and crept back to my room, closed the door, and crawled into my bed, all without waking a soul. And by then, I could see the pink hue on the horizon that signaled that dawn was coming. I smiled, and closed my eyes, but I never slept. Instead my mind wondered, wondered who the stranger in the doorway had been, who the stranger in the _darkness_ had been...

"Wake up girls!" I heard the head Mistress yell. I was already dressed, and was putting my hair up, when Meg turned over.

"You're already up? Most of the new girls are late to breakfast because they sleep in!" She groaned, sitting up in bed. Sleep did not suit her. I smiled, putting my jewelry on, and I slipped on my slippers.

"Well, I'm a morning person." I smiled at her, and she stood up and wondered over to the bathroom. I giggled as she closed the door.

"I heard that!" She called, and I laughed even more as she laughed.

"Breakfast!" The head mistress called a short time later. We all ran down the staircase and into the dining hall.

"Did you hear it? Could it have been?" I heard people talking as I sat down. I didn't think anything of it. I was far too busy staring at the crepes we had been served, and smiling.

"No! No one has seen or heard him since Antwanett left, and only the older girls would remember that." I heard someone else reply. I had taken a bite out of my breakfast when I heard them again and looked up.

"What happened?" I asked. Meg looked at me.

"You didn't hear it last night? Someone was down in the Concert Hall, playing the piano most of the night!" She breathed, all the girls were watching for my reaction. My eyes grew wide. They had all heard me.

"Oh, no. I didn't hear anything. I slept right through that. Sorry." I shrugged, trying to seem as innocent as possible.

"Tell her Meg! Tell her!" One of the other girls urged Meg to tell me something. Meg sighed.

"There's a man." She started, and my stomach flopped over. "He lives here, below the stage and the concert hall. He owns the opera house, or he did. No one has seen him for five years. Some of the older girls were here then, and they don't think he was even there then, but others swear he was. Some think he died in the fire, but some think he lived, and that he used to watch this girl, Antwanett. She used to sing in her free time and he liked to listen to her. She said she spoke to him, and some of the other girls swear they saw him, but they've all since gone, and he's been gone too." She explained. I gulped. "That is," She continued, "Until last night. Some of us, including myself, heard someone playing the piano for most of the night. We think it might be him, since the older girls said he used to do that a lot." She whispered.

"Five minutes ladies!" The head mistress screeched. I jumped, and the others laughed.

"Don't worry! You'll get used to her, soon enough." They assured me, but she wasn't why I had jumped.

"First comes dancing." She yelled. We lined up in rows, and were instructed on a simple, short dance that had all the moves we would do in it. When we had learned the dance, an instructor sat by the piano and played as we all danced. The head mistress and two other judges then called out our names if they thought we were good, but those girls stayed in to finish the other assignments. My name was never called.

Next was the orchestra. We were all handed an instrument, and then watched to see what we would do. Someone handed me a Violin, but I didn't play, so I put it down again, and walked over to the piano. Sitting down, I opened it up, like I had before, and laid my fingers against the keys, then I played the melody I had in the beginning. Suddenly the orchestra must have stopped, because I was playing on my own, and I didn't even realize it, until I saw people gathering around the piano to listen. I just kept playing, and playing.

When at last, the song was over, I let the last note hang in the air for a moment, before I realized all eyes had been on me for a while. I looked up, suddenly afraid that I had done something wrong, but then everyone started clapping.

"Wow! You said you could play, but I didn't know you could play like that!" Meg cheered. I smiled at her.

"Scarlett!" The head mistress yelled. I looked back, terrified, for my life. She walked up onto the stage.

"That was truly splendid, but you still have to sing." She smiled at me. I nodded. Now I had to really show them my voice if I was going to sing, and not always just play.

"Now, you have a half hour, to find a song, select one section from it, and then sing it for us. Understood?" She told everyone. We split up then. I made sure no one was watching as I went through the opposite door, where I had seen the owner the night before, and closed it behind me. I stood on the top step of a long, staircase that spiraled down into the darkness. I sat there, and closed my eyes, until I had found a song I had sung with Father a lot when I was younger. I selected the lyrics I wanted, and practiced them.

"Time's up! Ladies!" She called eventually. I stood up, and quickly reappeared, before anyone could see.

I stood near the middle of the line, so I didn't go first, but I didn't go last. The girls before me, and even after didn't seem terribly afraid, but I could tell they were nervous. When I stepped up, the pianist looked at me, but I shook my head.

"No, I'll sing this myself." I told him. He nodded, and sat back in his seat. Everyone got silent, paying close attention to me. I took a deep breath.

 _"Say you'll share with me, one love, one lifetime, say you'll lead me from my solitude, "_ I started. The judges stared as I finished. The head mistress dropped her quill, and blinked.

"I, um, I think you can pick, where you want to go." She said, smiling at me. I took a deep breath, nodding, and I thought for a moment, and then my eyes flew open again.

"Can I sing?" I asked. She smiled at me.

"Indeed, you may." She replied. I was dismissed to the dining hall again, where lunch was served upon my arrival.

"How?! How did you do that?!" She cried, running into the hall soon after me. I turned around, as Meg threw herself into the seat next to me. I laughed.

"How did I do what?" I asked, smiling shyly. She shook her head.

"You were incredible out there, both with that piano, and your voice...your voice was unimaginable! You are truly lucky! If you stay here, you'll go far!" She assured me. I smiled at her. I had hoped for this, and now it was all coming true.

"Did you see the way she played? Her eyes...they were closed! And how she sang...! Oh it was beautiful!" I heard whispers as we wondered up to bed in the evening. I smiled to myself as I went back into the room I was destined to share with Meg.

"Goodnight, Meg!" I smiled at her, as I curled up in my bed. She smiled back at me, and then turned over, and soon I heard her breathing grow even. When the clock tower struck eleven, I silently snuck out again, and back to the piano.

This time, however, the lights were already on, as if waiting for me. I walked up to the piano and sat down. The first thing that came into my head was the melody I had played earlier before everyone, and so I found myself, playing it again, and humming along.

"You were incredible out there today. And everyone, was so entranced by how you played." I heard his voice when I had finished the second song. I looked up into the eyes of the owner.

"Thank you. I didn't realize you were there." I smiled at him, laying my hands in my lap. He was standing just the same as the night before, watching me.

"That was the idea, dear child." He told me. I nodded.

"I see." I whispered. For a moment we were quiet.

"Do you play piano?" I asked him. He looked up at me.

"I do." He smiled devilishly.

"Would you like to play?" I asked. He looked me up and down for a moment. And then he stepped out into the light, and he turned his head towards me, and I gasped. He stopped, and we stared at each other for a long time.

"Do you know any two-player songs?" He asked, sitting down next to me. I looked down at the keys and laid my fingers on them. Gently, I pressed the first note, and he put his hands on the keys before him, and suddenly we were playing together.

The music seemed to come out of me, and I found myself playing perfectly, without a flaw, and faster than I had before and we both kept perfect pace, never making any mistakes and never stopping. Eventually the magic around us, calmed, and the notes grew quiet, before he pressed the last note, and sent it spiraling into the air around us, ending the song.

He looked up at me, and I saw now, why he had hidden in the shadows. He wore a white mask across his face, and the side that wasn't covered was dark and weary, yet he possessed a certain kindness in his eyes and his smile was soft, and gentle, like he was shy too.

"What is your name?" He asked. I smiled, looking down at my hands.

"Scarlett." I answered him. He was quiet for a moment. I looked at him.

"And yours?" I asked. He looked me in the eyes.

"They call me, The Phantom of the Opera." He breathed. I gasped, jumping up.

"You're him! You're the one they all talk about!" I cried. He nodded, standing up.

"I am." He admitted. I shook my head, backing away. He sighed, and looked down.

"I've heard the tales! I know what you did! How could you?!" I cried, and suddenly I felt the edge of the stage behind me, with my foot. He looked away.

"What have they told you?" He whispered. I was breathing heavily.

"A chandelier, broken, and shattered. And a man, that you hung! You killed him! And you almost killed another!" I replied, bitterly. His hands lay in his lap now, his back to me, and I could tell he was upset.

"Scarlett, some things never leave you, no matter how long ago they happened. It all happened a very long time ago..." He trailed off, quietly. I watched him, carefully, afraid.

"How long ago?" I asked him, trying to be calm.

"Twenty years ago." He breathed. I nodded, and looked down at the stage.

"What happened?" I asked, daring to take a step closer. He turned his face back, towards me, but didn't look up.

"A girl came here. She was an actress, a singer. She was beautiful, and I loved her voice. I decided to help her. I got to know her, showed her my world, where I live, who I am, and we sang, and she improved. She was good. But then, another man came, someone she had known, and they fell in love, and I grew jealous. I wanted her to sing again, but the other soprano got in the way, so I scared them, and killed a man who had been telling rumors about me that weren't true. When that wasn't enough, I, I, I broke the chandelier, and then I threatened her love, but in the end, I set them free, and now I sit here, twenty years gone by." He told me. I shook my head.

"You loved her?" I asked. He nodded.

"I did." He said, looking up at me for the first time. "But I've changed. I wouldn't hurt anyone now. I would never. I just wasn't meant to be loved." He told me. I walked over to him, gaining courage as I walked, and I sat down, next to him.

"What do you mean?" I asked. He gazed into my eyes for a moment.

"You see this cursed mask I wear." He replied. I looked at the sparkling, clean, white, mask that covered half of his face, leaving him with only half of an expression.

"I do."

"My face. It's, well, deformed, and ugly. She loved me, but she was afraid of me, and left me. Never again, have I ever been seen, until now." He whispered, watching me. I looked at the piano.

"And Antwanett?" I asked. He chuckled darkly.

"She was a school girl with a wild imagination. She saw me once, watching, and thought something more. But that was all." He laughed. I shook my head. I felt almost bad. People had torn him apart.

"Well," I said, unsure of what I was doing, "I'll be your friend, if you want a friend." I finished, a little nervous. Father was going to kill me if he ever found out.

"I've never had a friend." He mumbled, looking at me. I smiled, and he shook my hand.

"It's getting late. You should go back to bed." He said. I nodded.

"Good night friend." I said, standing up, and I left him, still sitting by the piano. When I had made it to the staircase, I heard him playing, and it sounded beautiful. I smiled, he did play it in the night when we all slept.

Carefully I crept up the creaky staircase, and down the hall. I opened the door, and then quietly closed it behind me.

"It was you!" Meg burst, as I walked over to my bed, I jumped, before sitting down on the bed.

"What are you doing awake?!" I asked. Her eyes were wide.

"I could ask you the same! Why didn't you tell me?! You're going to be in so much trouble!" She whispered loudly. I could see the sun starting to appear on the horizon.

"Please!" I cried. She watched me. "I...I, I didn't want anyone to know." I told her. Her shoulders relaxed.

"I can't sleep." I started. "I haven't slept since my mother died when I was five. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It's just that, well, I used to have a piano at my home, but Father, he sold it, because it reminded him too much of her, and when I saw that we had one here, I was excited because I didn't have to be bored anymore, and I love piano! Please! I beg you! Don't tell them!" I sobbed, my head in my hands. I didn't like talking about my mother.

"Scarlett!" She cried, coming over to me.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know! I promise! I won't tell anyone!" She said, comforting me. I nodded, and tried to wipe the tears away. We went back to bed, and I listened to her sleep for another hour before the head Mistress started shouting again. I hated when she did that.

"It was him! I heard him singing! He's back!" Were the first words I heard from the mouths of the other girls when we walked into the dining hall. Meg sat down next to me, and I hoped she could keep a secret.

"He was playing the piano, then he was quiet for a while, and then he started again, and he sang. I heard him!" Lacey burst. All the other girls listened. Even the boys said they had heard something like that last night.

"Attention! The lists have been posted!" The head mistress yelled when breakfast was ending. Everyone just looked at each other, and then we all got up and rushed over. I waited for the crowd to dwindle down before I went over and looked. I smiled. I was a singer, but they also had a note. I could play too!

Meg smiled when she saw me and what I had accomplished.

"You'll go far! I know it!" She assured me, patting my back.

Practice started.

"Singers! This way!" Shouted the instructor. He was a taller man with a low voice and brown hair that seemed to be always uncombed. A group of about ten girls and myself followed him into a room with a piano.

"This is your new home! Get used to it!" He told us. Unlike the head Mistress he didn't yell as much. I liked him already. We gathered around the piano and hummed as we warmed our voices up with the piano.

For a few hours we sang. We practiced many different songs and pitches, and by the end of the day we had all been assigned a voice part. I was a soprano, like my mother had been.

"Thank you, Ladies!" He said to us, when we were finished and we all left and filed into the Concert Hall to see what the others were doing. We watched as they ran through the dance they had been working on all day. They ran, and jumped, and twirled around, their dresses flying in all directions. They were beautiful, but I was happy to be a singer.

"I always like watching them after practice." Meg whispered to me, as we sat in the Concert Hall. I nodded.

"I like watching them too. It's a lot to take in, but they all do it so well!" I exclaimed, and she laughed.

"Do you think we'll hear him again tonight?" One of the girls asked at the end of my table. She was shorter, with long, brown hair and brown eyes. She always seemed to be in everyone's business.

"Probably. He's been down there, playing the last two nights." Lacey answered her. She nodded. I took another bite of my dinner and tried to listen to Meg, who was talking about her dog, Lionel who lived at her home. She hadn't seen him in a few months and she missed him.

"So how long do we stay here before we get our first break?" I asked her. She shrugged.

"It's like school. We get off for holidays and for a part of the summer, but not as long. I just miss him." She told me. I nodded, and drank my water. After a long day of singing my throat ached a little.

"First Antwanett, now her. It's always a trend! He only appears when someone is really talented." I heard one of the guys talking with the other girls. I sighed. Would the talk of the Phantom ever end?

"You should ask her if she knows anything. Antwanett did." The girls whispered. They were loud enough that I could hear though. Dancers weren't good at controlling their voices like Meg and I were.

"Good idea. Later." Will said, and I saw him look at me. I shrugged it off, and thought he would forget.

"We're going to play Hide-and-go-seek!" Meg told me. I gave her a funny look.

"It's a new game! It's from America!" She smiled.

"Sounds fun!" I said. America had always intrigued me. When dinner had finished we ran from the hall and hid. Then someone would come and try to find us. I ran down the hall, across the stage, and up the staircase and onto the catwalk, where I sat in a corner, and watched the stage through a whole in some curtains. They would never find me.

"30! Ready or not! Here I come!" John yelled from the back hallway. I listened as his footsteps disappeared up the stairs toward our bedrooms and smiled. I would be here for a while.

"Afraid of the dark?" I heard a voice next to me. I nearly screamed. He sat some meters away, watching me from the corner of his eyes. I took a deep breath.

"No. I'm just jumpy when I'm alone." I explained. He smiled.

"What are you doing up here all by yourself?" He asked. I looked at my hands and then back at him.

"My friends and I are playing a new game from America! We hide and someone tries to find us. I'm hiding right now!" I told him. He got up and sat down again next to me.

"I like that game. It sounds fun!" He said. I nodded.

"It is!" I agreed. For a while we sat there, waiting. I heard voices below us, but no one had found us yet.

"You said the other day, that your face...it's deformed?" I asked him. I couldn't help my curiosity. He sighed.

"Yes. I was born like this. I've always worn a mask. People don't like to look at someone that doesn't look like they do, perfect and beautiful." He explained to me. I frowned. His was a sad story.

At first, I just let it go, but something about the way people had always treated him, bothered me. I turned in my spot, and faced him. He looked up at me. I was really afraid, I had to admit, but in the end, I decided he was my friend. Watching him, I carefully reached out with my arm and grasping the edge of his mask, I gently slid it off his face. He looked away.

"I'm not worth seeing, Scarlett." He whispered. I put my hand on his.

"How can you believe that? You say that because that's what people have told you your entire life! What if they are just jealous of you? Sometimes people try to hide the best things in life, because they want to be the best, and they know they are not." I told him. His eyes met mine and he raised his head again, and I saw him for who he truly was.

His face was nearly gone. What little skin remain was pink, and just covered the bone. His lip curled up, to reveal his teeth and his brow stuck out farther, casting a dark shadow over most of his face, making him seem older, and darker. That half contrasted fiercely with the other half which was normal. I smiled at him, and when he smiled back, I saw his true self. His smile was pure and his eyes were filled with dreams that could never come true. His skin seemed to glow and he seemed happier without the mask.

"They gave you the mask because they were afraid of what others would think when they saw you. Yet, when you smile, it is the most brilliant smile. Never forget that Friend." I told him.

"Scarlett's the last one!" I heard someone yelling below us.

"Has anyone seen her?"

"Nope! Not me!"

"Maybe she's in the basement...with him!"

"Try the catwalk! I heard someone on steps earlier!" People were shouting through the Concert Hall. I looked back through the curtain to see who was coming. Will.

Frantically I looked back up to tell him, but he was gone. I looked around, and realized I was still holding his mask. I quickly tucked it into my socks, under my dress and moved again, so I had my back against the wall and I could see him coming. As I sat there waiting, I had only one thought in my head. He really was The Phantom.

"Scarlett wins!" He called to everyone as we came down from the Catwalk. Everyone was standing on the stage.

"What were you doing up there?" John asked, coming up to me. Meg stood right behind him. Everyone listened.

"I was just hiding!" I said, shrugging. "Why else would I be up there?" I asked, smiling. Will lifted an eyebrow but didn't say anything else.

"Do you know anything about the Phantom?" John asked. I gave him a funny look.

"I know some girl saw him some years ago." I offered. They weren't finding anything out. He nodded.

"Do you know anything else?" He asked, suspicious. I shook my head, but thought of the mask I could feel against my skin.

When we went up to bed. Meg gave me a funny look as I unpinned my hair.

"You know something, don't you? I won't ask, but you know more than you say, don't you?" She asked. I looked at the ground and back at her.

"I do." I whispered. She nodded.

"I figured. Just, whatever happens, be careful. Ok?" She said. I nodded.

When I was almost done in the bathroom, I changed into my night clothes, and laid the mask down next to the sink. At first I didn't do anything with it, but then staring down at it, I picked it up, and admired it. It was smooth, and clean. White, and pure. And yet it held so much hate. I made sure the door was locked before I put it on, and looked at myself in the mirror.

 _"I'm not worth seeing..."_ He had said. I remembered how he looked, and seeing myself in the mirror I suddenly became frightened, but I looked closer. From here, I almost looked like him...almost. We had the same skin color, and eye color, and my cheeks were set similar to his...

I quickly took the mask off, and hid it.

For a long time I waited, lying in my bed, listening to her breathing. But it never grew even. I watched the moon as it slowly moved from one corner of the window to the other.

"Just go already!" She suddenly whispered. I jumped slightly in my bed. I got scared very easily. I turned over and looked at her. She was staring at me, watching me.

"Are you sure?" I asked. She nodded.

"Go! I know you always do anyway! I just can't sleep tonight!" She said. I jumped up, and quietly closed the door behind me. I took the mask with me, careful to make sure she didn't see it.

I ran down the staircase, through the hall, and onto the stage. I had to move the piano out into the center, but then I sat down, and removed the key cover. I smiled to myself and lying my fingers in their proper places, I started to play again. This time, I was in a good mood, so I made something up, playing as I felt, and when I had gotten bored, I repeated it, and gave it a name. Then I moved on to the next one, and the next one. When I had been playing for a while, he came and sat down next to me, and we made something up together and played for a long time before I stopped.

"That's the longest you've ever played." He commented. I nodded.

"I'm in a good mood. I'm playing for my mother. She used to play all the time." I told him, before I looked at him. He wasn't wearing a mask. I smiled, and took it from the folds of my dress.

"I think this is yours." I smiled at him. He chuckled, and taking it, he laid it next to himself on the bench.

"That's for later." He breathed. I stretched my fingers, for they had grown tired. He sighed.

"Do you play the organ?" He asked. I nodded.

"A little."

"Would you like to play mine?" He asked. I gave him a funny look, and he motioned for me to follow him. I got up and watched him open the door on the other side of the stage.

"Come on! I'll show you!" He exclaimed. I smiled, and followed.

He lead me down a long, dark staircase. I had to feel my way along some parts. Eventually we reached the bottom and we stood on a dock. I frowned. Why was there a lake below the opera house? I stepped onto the boat with him, and he steered it across the _vast, glassy, lake_. As we floated across its surface I noticed _there were candles all around, and swirling mist_. It all seemed so _beautiful_. When, at last, we reached the other side he helped me off, and he lifted a massive, medal, gate.

And then my eyes fell upon his home. There were mirrors everywhere, and old props covered in spider webs, and candles strewn everywhere, and then, behind it all there stood the biggest organ I had ever seen. I gasped as I took it in with all its pipes, and keys. He smiled.

I walked up to it, removing the cover from the keys and buttons, I looked at everything which seemed new and freshly polished. I looked back at him. He laughed.

"It's the world's largest organ, and they never used it. It sits here, brand new, and collecting dust." He sighed. I sat down, and pushing some buttons, I found all the pedals, and then I laid my fingers, gently, softly, on the un-used keys. I took a deep breath and pressed down. The most amazing note belted out from the pipes and I smiled. I thought of a song I had once heard Mother play, and opening everything up, I started to play as I remembered it.

And then slowly I remembered the words.

 _"Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation. Darkness stirs, and wakes imagination. Silently the senses, abandon their defenses..."_ I sang. I didn't remember most of the song, but the parts I did, I knew well, and I sang them, unafraid.

"Scarlett?" He asked, when I had finished playing. I looked back at him from the bench. He was smiling.

"Where did you learn that song?" He asked. I looked at the floor.

"My mother sang and played it. I know most of the songs I can play, from her. She taught me a lot. We both love music." I told him. He nodded.

"She sounds like she was devoted to music." He breathed. I nodded.

"She used to sing here, like I do now. I'm doing this for her." I told him. He gave me a funny look.

"She taught me this too." I said, and I hit the keys with my fingers, and played an Overture she had played that I had taught myself after she had passed away. I felt the power of the organ as I played. This piece had always been a hard one for me, but now I pounded the keys, remembering every note.

As I played I heard him behind me, singing something, and as I listened, I heard lyrics I had never known existed.

 _"And though you turn from me, to glance behind, the Phantom of the Opera is there, inside your mind!"_ I heard him sing. A moment later the piece finished, and as I sat back, rubbing my hands and fingers so they wouldn't ache, I turned and looked at him.

"Did your mother teach you that too?" He asked, solemnly. He had put his mask back on. I shook my head.

"After she passed away, I found it in one of her notebooks, and taught it to myself." I explained to him. He walked up to the bench, and sitting down next to me, he played it all again, singing with it, all the words.

"Do you know what your mother's name is?" He asked, when he had finished. I blinked.

 _"Christine."_ I whispered. I didn't speak her name often out loud. His eyes suddenly grew wide.

"And your father?" He asked. I looked at the massive organ, and smiled to myself.

 _"Raoul."_

"It can't be..." He trailed off, quietly. I looked back at him.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. He had stood up, and turned his back, hiding his face. Carefully, I stood up, and watched him.

"Christine _Daae_ , was the only love I ever knew..." He breathed. My heart sank. That was my mother's maiden name. "And Raoul _Vicomte de Chagny_ was her only love..."

The _Phantom of the opera_ looked back at me, a dark shadow over his face.

"Can you sing something?" He asked me. I frowned. I had never been asked to just sing like this before. I thought for a moment, and sang my audition.

 _"Say you'll share with me, one love, one lifetime. Say you'll lead me from my solitude!"_ I started. He nodded, and looked away, and I stopped.

"That's why." He whispered to himself. I walked up to his side, and laid my hand on his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" I asked. He shook his head, waving his hand.

"That's why I liked your voice so much. You sound exactly like her. _You sound exactly like your mother_." I heard him quietly sobbing. I sighed.

"I'm sorry." I breathed. He looked back at me.

"What are you sorry for, dear child? 'Tis not your fault!" He exclaimed, grabbing my hand, and he lead me back towards the boat.

"All those rumors, the chandelier, the dead man, they all happened around the time I met your mother. _I broke the Chandelier_ because the head master wouldn't cast Christine as the main character and instead he had cast her as a silent page boy! _I killed that man_ because he made fun of who I was in front of her and everyone else she knew." He told me, as we _floated_ across the lake.

My head was spinning from everything I had just learned. The Phantom had _known_ my mother. He had _Loved_ my mother...

He still did _Love_ my mother...

That's when another thought occurred to me, even though she was dead, his love for her hadn't died. _Love Never Dies_.

For a week everything went as normal, we got up, had breakfast, started practice, after practice we watched the others, then we had dinner, and then we had free time. After that was bed, and I always spent the night with the Phantom, playing the piano or organ.

And then vacation came.

"It's for a week. I'm excited to go home and see Father again." I told him, the night before I was leaving. He smiled.

"How is he?" He asked. I shrugged.

"He's getting better, but most of my life he's been sad. He's finally going out with friends again, and getting work done. I wonder what he'll be like tomorrow when I see him, after being here for all these months." I replied. He was quiet.

"When I knew him, he was popular, everyone knew him, he was eager, to marry your mother, and he was rich. He was every girl's dream, and all the girls in the opera house were jealous of Christine." He told me. I smiled. Sometimes I wished I could have met him when he was like that, and not this sad, old man that I knew to be quiet and soft. He was still rich, but we didn't use the money much.

"Have fun this week, and try to be patient with him. I'm sure he'll be happy to see you." He told me as I stood up from the piano. I nodded.

"Oh, and Scarlett?" He asked. I looked back from the door.

"Please, don't tell him about me. I don't want him to be mad at you. Ok?" He asked. I smiled, and waving goodbye, I left him, sitting by the black piano on a very grand stage.

"I'll see you next week!" She called. I waved to Meg as she got into her carriage, and pulled away. Most of the other girls had gone when Father's pulled up. Toby and Max were pulling it today, and as I walked up to the two, big, horses they bobbed their heads, and were happy to see me. I smiled.

"Looks like you two got bigger." I said to them, and Max whinnied. I walked around the side of the carriage and suddenly the door opened from the inside. Father sat there, smiling. I jumped inside and gave him a big hug.

"You came!" I cried, and he laughed.

"Of course I came!" He replied, and I sat down across from him as we pulled away. I had missed the sound of the wheels on cobble stone.

"So how have you been?" I asked him. He smiled as he spoke.

"I'm good! I'm very excited! I have two surprises to show you when we get home!" He said, almost bouncing in his seat. I gave him a funny look. He had never been this happy.

When the carriage came through the front gates I could feel something was different. The house maids seemed to be beside themselves with joy, as we pulled around the fountain.

"Oh! It's so good to see you! My! How you've grown!" Loretta cried when I stepped out. She gave me a big hug. Here we had always treated our maids like they were family.

They took my things and lead me inside, my father right behind me. The house had changed. I couldn't put my finger on it. I could see some new paintings on the walls, and the foyer had been painted.

"Is that you?" I suddenly heard a women's voice call from the lounge area. I stopped as the maids looked back at me, and I looked back at Father. He smiled at me, and when I looked back, she stood there, in the grand doorway.

"Oh my heavens!" She exclaimed when she saw me. She was tall for a women, with long, blonde, curls and bright, green eyes. Her skin was a perfect tan and she had on a beautiful, long, blue, dress. She was beaming when she saw me.

"You must be Scarlett!" She said, walking up to me, and slightly bowing.

"I'm Antwanett!" She introduced herself. I gave Father a funny look.

"Antwanett is a friend of mine, she's been spending some time here on the grounds. She's been helping me decorate the house, making it more...comfy again." He told me. I nodded, and bowed.

"Nice to meet you..." I trailed off, I didn't know what to call her. She laughed.

"Just call me Antwanett!" She grinned. I couldn't help but smile back. Father hadn't talked to any women until now.

"Come with me." He said, and he ushered me up to the second level, where my room was. We put all my bags on my bed, and then I followed him down the hall. Mother's study lay at the end and I had never been allowed inside after she had died, but now he opened the door, and lead me in, and as I walked inside, I saw mirrors had been placed all around the room, and in the center sat a beautiful, black, grand piano. I gasped, and without even thinking, I sat down on the bench, and opened the cover.

Looking back at him, I put my fingers down on the pure white keys and without another thought began to play a song I had learned from Meg. He stood, watching, his eyes wide, and lit up like day.

"That's beautiful!" He exclaimed, when I had finished. I looked at him.

"Why the sudden change?" I asked. He sighed, and came over, sitting down next to me he placed his hands on the piano, and he hummed, and then played a few notes, and soon he was playing more and putting them into a tune. I didn't recognize it, but when he finished I thought it reminded me of Mother. I smiled to myself.

"Antwanett has been teaching me that sadness will always be a part of life, but that at some point you have to live again, and be happy, if not for yourself, then for others. You were the other. I realized after you left how big your role was in my life, and I grew lonely, so when I met Antwanett, I brought her home and she has been helping me to start life again. I realized that I had taken everything out of the house that reminded me of your mother, but the one thing I could never take out, was you, so she has helped me to create a new feeling of you, more than your mother. The house is much warmer now. Don't you agree?" He asked. I nodded.

"It feels like home again." I whispered, and we hugged. He had really improved. I was so happy.

"Your Father tells me that you love to sing. Is that true?" She asked. We sat at the evening table, eating dinner. I nodded as I took another bite of my pasta.

"That's what I'm doing at the Opera. I'm singing. Occasionally I play the piano, but my main work is with singing." I replied, nodding. She smiled.

"You must sound like your mother. She was my inspiration for singing when I lived at the Opera house." She said, looking at her food. I froze. Wait. Antwanett.

My head snapped up, and I grew wide-eyed.

"Wait...you're Antwanett? As in, _the_ Antwanett?!" I asked. She nodded.

"I haven't been around in a while. I worked in London for some time, but now I've come back. I'll be returning to the opera house soon! I can't wait to sing with you!" She exclaimed. My heart started to pound.

"When's the next introduction week?" I asked. She shrugged, smiling at Father.

"I think in a month or so." She replied. I took a deep breath. I had to warn the Phantom...I had to warn my friend.

"I've heard about you from the other girls. They said you were friends with the owner!" I smiled. She stopped eating.

"They said that? Did they say anything else?" She asked, stopping. Father was suddenly watching me. I shrugged, taking another bite.

"Not really. Only the head mistress talks with him. I haven't met him yet, but the other girls don't really like him. He keeps to himself. But they said he's really nice, he's just shy." I said. I made myself sound innocent and girly. No way were they finding out I knew him. She took a deep breath.

"Yeah, he likes listening to the arts, but he doesn't make public appearances much." She chuckled, and I nodded.

"So what have you learned?" She asked, changing the subject quickly.

"Well, we don't learn a whole lot of new things, but we practice what we already know. I've gotten much better at some singing techniques, and the Head Mistress says I'll be performing in opera's soon. I have a concert coming up and after that practice starts for the new opera." I told them, finishing my dinner, and I sat back.

"Does the Head Mistress yell a lot?" She asked. I laughed.

"Very much. My ears have gotten used to it, but in the beginning it was actually annoying. Haha!" I giggled. She shook her head.

"Nothing's changed." She breathed, and she finished her dinner as well. Father sat, his arms folded, studying me.

"So what else have you heard about the owner?" He asked, still interested. Antwanett looked at him, and then down at her feet.

"Nothing else really. Sometimes girls say they can hear him playing the organ, but nothing else. I haven't heard anything since I arrived." I told them, and I took a little bit more, and finished that too. He nodded slowly.

"So," I started, looking up at him, when I had finished eating again. "Are you going to come to my concert?" I asked. He sighed, and then looked at me.

"Of course I'm coming!" He laughed after a moment, and I got excited. I hadn't thought he would ever come.

In the evening I went up to my room and unpacked my things. When I had finished I wondered over to my new piano and sat down, looking at myself in the mirrors around me.

I quickly found myself practicing the tune he had played for me, learning how it went, going from one mysterious note to the next. I loved listening to it, and I worked towards perfection. I always worked towards it. Father said Mother had been the same way.

I played some other songs, but my mind kept wondering back to the melody he had played, and then the one I had played, with the lyrics I had never known existed. As I played I could almost feel him, sitting beside me, playing.

"Where did you hear that?" I heard. I jumped. Antwanett stood in the doorway, watching me. Her eyebrow raised. She was curious.

"I heard our music director playing it one time, and I liked it, so I remembered it." I said. She walked into the room, closing the door behind her, she sat down next to me, and played a single note, a low note, and I felt a tingle go up my spine. She smiled at me, and then played another melody I had heard him play. I frowned.

"Do you recognize this one?" She asked. I shook my head, and she stopped. And then I remembered something. I laid my hands down, like I was at the organ, and in a single heartbeat I slammed the keys down, and threw myself into the song he had played for me when we had played the organ for the first time. I played the entire thing, and when I was done, she was frowning.

"Where's that from?" She asked. I chuckled, shrugging. She didn't know him as well as she thought.

"Oh, I just made that up. It has lyrics, but I can't remember them right now." I explained to her. She nodded slowly.

"You know, the owner, he played the piano too." She said. I laughed.

"Yeah, but he does more than that." I whispered. She just stared at me. The game was just beginning.

"What else do you know about him?" She asked, looking at me incredulously. I shrugged.

"Just the same as everyone else. The chandelier, the dead man. The same old rumors. Nothing new. My friend told me he helps the girls that have good voices. That's like, his hobby. He's a music teacher for singers. He helped my mother, and he helped you." I said, suddenly not afraid. Her eyes grew wide.

"How did you know that?" She asked, growing very quiet. I shrugged.

"Everyone at the opera house knows." I said, smiling, and I got up.

"Scarlett?" She asked, I stopped, just before opening the door, and I looked back.

"Just tell me this: has he helped you?" She breathed. I set my jaw. She nodded.

"I won't tell." She whispered, and I left the room, angry with myself.

As I lay in my bed, I thought I heard someone, walking around. Father had gone to bed some hours earlier, and I knew that Antwanett had left after our episode by the piano. I sat up, and opened my door, but the house was silent, and dark. I walked down the hall, and to the edge of the staircase. I couldn't see anything. And then I heard a note play, on the piano. The same note she had played earlier. And another shiver went down my spine.

Silently, I walked over to the door, which was closed. I turned the handle and I heard it click open. I set my jaw, and quietly opened the door. The piano sat in the center of the room, alone, and untouched. The bench was just as I had left it, and the window was closed. I walked in, and closed the door behind me. Looking around, I didn't see anything until I looked straight ahead into the mirror and nearly screamed.

He stood right behind me, staring at me, through his mask. I turned around, and held my breath. But I found myself staring at an empty wall. I frowned and looked back, but he was gone. I sat down at the piano and quietly played. Sometimes when I looked up, I thought I saw him there, but then he would be gone again. Eventually I gave in to the thought that it was my mind playing tricks on me, in the light.

"You were up last night, weren't you?" Father asked the next morning when he walked into my room. I sat by my dresser, brushing my hair. I smiled.

"You know how I am." I said, looking at him in the mirror. He ran his fingers through it as I finished.

"You look so much like her. When I saw you yesterday, I almost thought it was her again." He told me, and he kissed my head. I blushed.

"Both the Head Master and the Head Mistress said I sound exactly like her, and sometimes they even called me by her name." I smiled, looking at the floor, before I looked back into his, dark, eyes. He smiled, and left me to finish.

"Look! Look!" Antwanett cried, when she burst in the door after we had finished breakfast. I jumped slightly as she rushed in, and threw the morning paper at me. When I looked at it, my name was in massive print on the front cover.

"Christine Returns" It read. I blinked and read the article.

"While our beloved _Christine Daae_ has left us, her daughter has not, and now the young _lady of the night_ has come to the _Opera Populair_ to follow in her mother's footsteps! Fans of Christine are coming from around the world to see her concert next week, including one couple who has traveled all the way from America to see her!" It started out. I blinked. I had fans...!

"Wow!" Father exclaimed after he had snatched it from me. He looked at me in pity.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked. I smiled.

"Of course I do! If the Head Master and Mistress think I sound like her, what will they think?!" I cried, pointing at the article. Now I was super excited.

The week went by fast. Antwanett spent every day with us, and we visited the zoo and went to another opera. I got to go to a grand ball that one of Father's friends was putting on, and we had an amazing time.

"It sounds like it." Meg smiled at me, when I had finished unpacking in our room. I slumped down on the bed, exhausted. We had an hour before dinner.

"I think Father is in love with her. She seems nice, but something just doesn't feel quite right about her. I have to talk with the others later." I said. She nodded.

"Yeah, after the piano incident, I would too." She chuckled, but we both knew what she meant. Antwanett sounded too good to be true. I was going to find out why.

"Your father is courting her?!" The older girls exclaimed when I told them about Antwanett at dinner. I nodded. They all sighed.

"I feel bad for you. She was a drama queen. She claimed to see the Phantom twice, and both times she would get so hysterical and have the day off from practice to get better. She claimed he had hurt her, but she never said how. When everyone heard about her and the Phantom they started coming to her concerts and she became super famous. That's all she ever wanted and that's what she got...money. When she finally had it, she left and no one heard from her again." The seniors told me. I shook my head. That's why.

"Yeah, well, she's coming back. Soon." I said. They were all in an uproar, but they were happy I had warned them.

"Tell me, and tell me now, have you seen him?" Meg asked, as we lay in bed later that night. I closed the door after making sure everyone else had gone to bed. I sat by the edge of her bed now.

"I have, but I haven't told anyone...except Antwanett." I whispered. She cursed silently to herself.

"One, you shouldn't have told her, and two, you shouldn't have befriended him." She hissed. I nodded.

"She realized. I didn't actually tell her, and he's been helping me. I've learned far more from him than I have from any of the teachers here. I might see him tonight again." I told her. I had learned who to trust and who not to trust.

"Scarlett, if you see him, tell him. Warn him that she's coming. Otherwise she'll go after him, and he won't know she's coming!" She breathed. I nodded.

When the moon was high in the sky, and I could hear snores, I got out of bed and made my way to the Concert Hall. The lights were out, the piano moved, so I turned them on, and pushed the piano back, and then I stopped. The room was too cold. I looked back at the door on the other side, and wondered over to it. It was already hanging on open hinges when I found it, so I peered down the long, dark, spiral staircase. Nothing. I shivered and then I closed the door behind me and walked down the stairs.

At the bottom the boat was gone. I could see it on the other side. The candles were out. I took a deep breath, and sitting down on the dock, I put my feet in, and realized it was shallow. The water only reached my knees. Without thinking, I stepped in, and walked across the dark lake to the other side. I pulled myself up and rang out my dress so it would dry. And then I saw it. The gate that had once protected his home lay in ruins, strewn across the ground. I held my breath and looked around.

Carefully I walked through the ruined gate and into his home. I could see music all over the floor, the candles were also out. His desk was gone, and the mirrors, shattered. I gulped and walked further. Only one thing remained the same. The organ.

I walked up to the monster, and sat down in front of it. I pulled the cover away from its keys, and startled, picked up his white mask.

"For you." Read the note. He was gone. I could feel it. When I had finished playing the organ for the night, I took the boat, back across the lake, and I hide it around the corner. Then I took the shattered mirror pieces I had found and laid them across the steps in the dark areas. I locked the door from the inside with the key, and tied the key around my neck before I turned the lights off in the great hall, and let the legend vanish.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Meg asked. I nodded. "There are a lot of people out there." She continued. I laughed and gave her a hug.

"I'll be fine. I promise." I assured her. I had put the Phantom from my mind. Antwanett was coming tomorrow, but she wouldn't find him.

"Then go out there, and have fun." She smiled at me and I nodded to the Head Master. I stepped behind the curtains and waited, while they introduced me. I could feel the key around my neck, and his mask in my pocket. Reminders of what I had learned.

"And now! Ms. Scarlett!" He cried and I ran out onto the stage. When I stopped, in the center, and looked out. My heart stopped beating when all the eyes landed on me. The Hall could hold forty thousand people. The tickets had been sold out. I set my jaw, and bowing, I turned around and sat down at the piano.

I played a single note, and then I began to sing. My songs were about love, and what it meant to be in love, and what the summer was like, and how they were the same, yet different. The songs were newer, but beautifully composed and I loved to sing them. And as I sang, the lyrics all memorized, I could hear her singing, my voice becoming more and more like hers.

As the night went on, the cheers grew louder, and my voice grew stronger. When the intermission came I was happy to have a break. My voice wasn't tired, but I was tired of being in front of the crowd, all the eyes constantly on me. At long last I had some peace and freedom to move as I wanted just for some moments.

"Scarlett, I was just reviewing your song list, and it says here that your last song is a duet. Did you know that?" The Head Master asked. I frowned. My last song was a special song I had picked out because it was my favorite, but it wasn't a duet. I took the paper from him, and read it.

The second to last song listed was the song that was supposed to be last. The next song I had never heard of, and I certainly didn't know the lyrics. I sighed.

"I'll tell the audience it was a mistake." I said. Meg suddenly ran up to us.

"No! Look!" She said, and she handed me her paper. It was one of the evening's programs that the audience had. It didn't list the extra song. I smiled.

"That solves that." I smiled. He nodded.

But as the curtains pulled away for the second half of my concert I suddenly remembered his handwriting and I had the distinct impression that something different was going to happen...

"Summer's love. It's what we asked of, each other, and now, we stand here, ready to embrace, the life of, the other..." I sang. It was my last song, my special song. And when I had finished at long last, the crowd stood, cheering and hollering. I heard whistles and shouts, and I couldn't stop smiling. I bowed before the forty thousand.

"Sing once again with me, a strange duet..." I suddenly heard, and so did everyone else, for the sound jarred us all where we stood, and the Great Hall fell silent.

"My power over you, grows stronger yet, and though you turn from me, to glance behind, The Phantom of the Opera is there...inside your mind." We all heard, and suddenly I realized what he was singing. They were the lyrics to the song I had always played, but had never known...until now.

"Those who have seen your face, drawback, in fear, I am the mask you wear." I suddenly sang in reply. The crowd stared at me.

"It's me they hear," He replied, and suddenly he was there, standing next to me, wearing his mask.

"My spirit and your voice, in one, combined. The Phantom of the Opera is here, inside my mind." I sang as he sang with me.

"In all your fantasies, you always knew, that man and mystery," He started.

"Were both in you." I finished.

"And in this labyrinth, where night is blind, the Phantom of the opera is there, inside your mind." We sang together. The crowd was still, not even blinking it seemed as we continued the unplanned duet.

"My angel of music!" He roared.

"He's there, the Phantom of the opera!" I replied, smiling back at him.

"Sing!" He cried, and I did, getting louder and louder, and my pitch getting higher and higher, until at last it was the highest it could go, and when I had finished the last note, the crowd cheered so immensely that I was later told they hadn't even cheered like that for my mother.

As they cheered I looked back at him, and we gave each other a massive hug. He had returned. I smiled at him, and above the roar of people I said,

"You came back."

"I'm sorry I ever left. I see you found my message. I also saw what you did. You hid the boat, and locked the door, and the glass... Why did you do it?" He asked as the people clapped.

"Antwanett is coming back tomorrow. I had to guard it from her. I realize now what she did, and I did it so that she couldn't do it again." I told him. He nodded, and we both turned, smiling, to the crowd and bowed together before the curtains fell in front of us.

"Thank you, for singing with me." I said to him when they had stopped clapping and everything was quiet again. He nodded.

"You know, that was the song your mother and I sang together." He told me. My eyes grew wide.

"Really?" I gasped. He nodded.

"They're coming. They will pest you with questions about me. I'm sorry." He suddenly said to me. I shook my head.

"Don't worry, I won't tell them anything." I said. He laughed.

"No, I want you to tell them, which is why I'm not leaving, I'm staying here." He told me. I gave him a funny look but suddenly the stage door burst open and the Head Master, Mistress, and Meg all stopped when they saw him, still standing with me, talking. We both looked back at them.

"Erik..." The Head Mistress whispered, stepping forward. He bowed slightly.

"Madam Giry." He greeted her. Her eyes were wide.

"And Scarlett..." She breathed. I smiled.

"Madam."

"You know each other?" She asked. We both looked at each other and chuckled.

"Yes. We know each other." I replied. Her face was white.

"You sounded so perfect together..." She whispered. I looked at Meg whose face was whiter than a ghost.

"Meg, meet my friend." I said, taking her hand and she walked up to him. He looked away from the Head Mistress then, and looked at us.

"It's Meg, right?" He asked, kissing her hand. She nodded, terrified.

"I'm Erik." He introduced himself. She managed the smallest of smiles. "I hear you're Scarlett's best friend. She's told me all about you, and you are a wonderful girl, especially for keeping all her secrets. You are a true friend." He told her, and she blushed.

"Thank you." She whispered, looking at me. Just then I heard footsteps pounding down the hall as the person ran towards us, and then burst in the door, and stopped. We all looked back at my father.

He stared at the Phantom, who stood next to me, staring back at him. Everyone grew silent and watched. I set my jaw. I felt Erik tense up next to me.

"It's been too long." Father mocked, marching onto the stage. I ran forward and stopped him. He looked at me then.

"And you! You lied!" He shouted at me, but I had grown.

"How could I tell you?! I know your past! I know what happened! You can't have expected me to just be able to tell you! Father! He's been helping me! He's been helping me with my voice! He's been kind, and gentle, and he's changed! But how could I tell you? You would never listen!" I shouted right back at him. He stepped back, stunned by my words, and stunned that I would ever dare shout back at him.

For a moment we stood there, staring at each other, breathing deeply. And then his expression changed. I had never known this face before and I was suddenly confused.

"He's been...helping you?" He asked, quietly. I nodded.

"You know I don't sleep. Every night I meet with him, here, on this stage, and we play, and sing together. Not once has he hurt me, or been mean to me, or done anything but help me. I promise. And I'm sorry for not being honest, I just didn't know how to tell you." I told him, actually looking down at the ground. He sighed, and held my head back up.

"I'm sorry for making you feel that way. And I'm sorry for the past." He breathed, looking up at the Phantom. He nodded at Father.

"I should have told you, Raoul. I'm sorry." He said, shaking Father's hand. He smiled.

"That's ok. We have all lied, it seems." He shook the Phantom's hand.

When everyone had left, I sat by the piano, just staring at the keys, as the two of them talked amongst themselves about the past.

"She told you before she died, didn't she?" I heard Father whispering. He nodded.

"I haven't said anything though. I think you should. It's your right." I heard him say to Father. I looked at them, and then quickly back at the piano. I started playing a soft melody that I had heard at the opera the other night with Father.

"I'll be back in some weeks to see the opera. Ok?" He asked, I nodded, and gave him a big hug and kiss. He shook hands with my friend and then disappeared behind the stage door. I looked back at the Phantom of the Opera.

"Thank you, for tonight. It was amazing." I smiled at him. He chuckled, sitting down next to me.

"Don't worry about it. You have an amazing voice, and getting to sing with you was like a dream. Whoever marries you someday will be very lucky." He said. I smiled at the ground.

"Can I ask you something?" I whispered. He nodded.

"Sure." He said. I took a deep breath.

"Was that you, I saw in my house? In my mirrors, watching me, as I played the piano?" I asked, slowly looking up into his dark eyes. I watched as he removed his mask to reveal the harsh face underneath, and laid the white shield in his lap.

"It was." He breathed, and he looked at me, like a child who knows they're in trouble.

"But, how? How did you do that?" I asked, fascinated, not angry. He gave me a funny look.

"They don't call me the Phantom for nothing, Scarlett." He whispered, and I felt that cold feeling trickle down my back. I shivered.

"And the lyrics. I didn't know them, and yet I sang them." I said. He sighed.

"Some mysteries are better left unsolved." He smiled at me. I nodded.

"Ok."

But deep down I knew. It wasn't until years later that I would actually know for sure, but I knew.

"Oh!" I said at the end of the night when he got up to walk back home. He turned back.

"This belongs to you." I breathed, and I gave him his mask back...again. he laughed.

"Thank you." He replied, putting one mask on, and holding the other. I had to wonder how many he had.

"And this." I said, and I removed the key from my neck. He held his hand up.

"No. Keep it. I trust you. Besides, if I really ever needed it back, you probably wouldn't even know it was gone until I had already gotten it again." He said, winking at me, and he disappeared behind the door.

I went to bed and for the first time in eleven years I fell asleep and had a dream.

"Scarlett?" I heard a small voice ask. I didn't reply. "Scarlett!" It came again, louder than before. I groaned.

"SCARLETT!" I heard someone scream. My eyes flew open, and I found myself staring into Meg's wide eyes. Behind her was Madam Giry.

"Were you... _asleep_?" She asked, as I sat up, rubbing my eyes. I looked around, and remembered the previous night...and the dream. I nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I think I was actually." I smiled. She shook her head and stood straight up again.

"Well that's different." She said, and we both laughed. I couldn't believe it! I had actually slept!

The next night when everyone had fallen asleep again, and I could feel sleep coming, I quickly got up and ran onto the stage. This time, the lights were on, the piano, waiting. I smiled, and looked around. I found his figure, hiding behind the lights, on the catwalk up by the ceiling.

"Lonely?" I called up, from the stage. He looked down at me.

"Never." He replied, and he suddenly stood before me. I blinked. But I didn't ask questions anymore.

"It's true? Isn't it?" I asked, walking up to him, removing his mask, and looking him straight in the eyes. He blinked.

"What is?" He asked. I laughed.

"My dream." I replied. He looked at his hands, and then back into my eyes.

"It is. All of it." He finally admitted. I nodded.

"I remember all of it." I whispered, looking out at the empty seats.

"You'll never forget it. The truth sticks." He breathed. His words were true.

Even now, in old age, I have never forgotten that dream, that truth.

I walked up to him, and taking his hand, I gave him a hug, and then, looking at him again, I kissed him.

"Meg!" I cried, running into breakfast late the next morning. I had overslept. Everyone watched me race in, and sit down next to her. She gave me an odd look.

"What? You slept again?" She asked, and everyone laughed in a good way. I smiled at her.

"No! Guess what?" I whispered, but everyone had stopped.

"Scarlett, maybe you should tell me later." She breathed, looking around. I realized then, that everyone was listening in. I gulped and shut up.

"Remember to hold your chin up!" She cried. I stood on the stage, singing. It was at the end of practice and I was the last one to sing, so everyone was watching. The opera was tomorrow and I had the leading roll.

"Scarlett!" Meg called, just as I had finished singing. I looked around, trying to find her. "Scarlett!" I heard again.

"Scarlett." A deeper voice echoed through the great Concert Hall. Everyone stopped and looked at me. It wasn't a secret anymore that I knew him. She looked at me.

"What was that?" Lacey asked loudly.

"That!" I started, and she looked at me, standing before all of them on the stage. "That, was my Father. The Phantom of the Opera."

Everyone, including Meg Giry, gasped as their faces turned as white as my true father's mask.

The End

Years later the Opera Populair caught fire, and Scarlett Phantom barely escaped with her life, but not before she was badly burned. Now, she wears a white mask that, _they say_ , matches that of the _Phantom of the Opera._

 _And so the legend shall continue..._


End file.
